1. Field of the Invention
The patent relates to the field of surveillance systems and more particularly to surveillance systems having a user interface.
2. Description of the Related Art
In the field of surveillance and security systems, it may be difficult for a security system to communicate its status, problems, or failure modes to a user or repair personnel. The communication may call for some means of interface between the security system and the user or repair personnel. The interface may be wireless or cable-based, for example. However, such wireless or cable-based interfaces have high costs.
Currently getting diagnostic or status information from a security device requires special hardware and software to collect and parse the information. At the same time, it has become increasingly common for people to have devices such as cell phones/smartphones which have both high resolution cameras and live internet connections.
What is neither disclosed nor suggested by the prior art is a surveillance security system providing a simple method to convey diagnostic or status information from an electronic device such as a user interface to a person via a visual indicator such as a two- or three-dimensional code or a QR code. It is known to use QR codes for product or person identification or information at stores and other retail locations. A user may take a picture of the QR code using his cell phone and then be provided with an interpretation of the code from an app loaded on the cell phone.
A basic function of a security system is that it must be able to identify people who are allowed to be in a secure area, or allowed to interact with the security system, and people who are not allowed. An approved user may be verified by something he knows (e.g., a passcode), something he has in his possession (e.g., a token or RFID card), or by some physical characteristic of the user (e.g., a biometric characteristic, such as a fingerprint). A combination of two or all three of a user's knowledge, possession, or physical characteristic may be required in order to increase the level of security of the system.
Problems with security systems include their difficulty of use, difficulty of user management, and difficulty of personal identification number (PIN) or passcode management.